THE 14-year-old thinks the record’s stuck when it comes to my views on education. If he knew what a record was, of course.

Anyway, the oft-repeated melody goes like this: work hard in school, get good grades, make it to university, get a good job.

The accompanying chorus goes: have you done your homework, put that X-Box controller down and read a book, who did you do in that test?

I know I go on a bit but the reason is simple: education is the key to everything – it unlocks better prospects, a good job, a nice life.

Sadly, I fear the record is now so badly scratched my son won’t listen to it anymore because it’s increasingly apparent that those ‘good jobs’ are becoming more scarce than ever and even with a (very expensive) university degree, there is now no guarantee that today’s youngsters will be in gainful employment anytime soon.

The unemployment figures were published this week and they make grim reading. The jobless total for 16 to 24-year-olds has now hit a hit a record high of 1.02 million.

That’s a generation worrying about its future, its finances, its independence. A generation with no job and increasingly no hope.

A generation of kids who should be dreaming of a bright future and instead are left facing a very dark nightmare.

And despair trickles down. If you see your older brothers and sisters, who have worked hard at school and tried their best still struggling to find work then the question, at the age of 13 or 14, rapidly becomes ‘why bother?’

What’s the point in working hard, gaining great GCSEs if there’s nothing to show at the end of it?

Meanwhile we, as mums and dads, have to try to hold it together; we have to encourage and cajole and support our kids in their quest for a better future because no-one else is, least of all this government.

Forget the eurozone crisis. Forget the border control row. The lack of opportunity for our children is the issue we should all be getting worked up about.

Young people’s voices seldom get heard. There aren’t many votes to be had from them and they claim fewer benefits. In short, there’s no political urgency for those in power to tackle the problem.

But parents have voices and votes. Parents have power.

If we don’t want a lost generation on our hands now’s the time to use it.